#i love them dearly but not in a romantic or queerplatonic or any other sense

[coles-scythe]

Does anyone else feel like a strange sense of bittersweet nostalgia for previous F/Os that you no longer see as an F/O (for any reason)? Kinda like a sense of longing for what was, but the feelings just aren't there anymore or have changed to something else.

[qpr-culture-is]

how do i differentiate between romantic and queerplatonic attraction?

Well that's a bit of a tricky question to answer (especially considering the fact that im not sure if the "romantic attraction" i had before was actually queerplatonic or not). This is the best bit of information I could give you on that:

I think one of the main differences is that with queerplatonic attraction you want more of romantic like relationship but still value your friendship with the person dearly, and see no reason to prioritize romantic love over that platonic bond (if that makes sense).

Romantic attraction- typically (or at least from my understanding) you want a strictly romantic relationship that includes romantic love and close intimacy, whether or not a close platonic bond still exists. You'll likely imagine yourself doing romantic things with them that if fueled by romantic feelings. You will likely want them to just be your partner, and a close friendship with them isn't highly prioritized. You want to date and be intimate with them in more of a romantic way (usually strictly romantic but it doesn't have to be).

Queerplatonic attraction- you want a close intimate relationship with them, but you don't mind if it's strictly romantic and would even be fine with being close and caring friends. When you imagine doing romantic things with them, the underlying feeling might be a mixture of platonic and romantic. You might view the person as someone you wish to be your close/best friend and lover at the same time. This is just from personal experience and the fact that im arospec might play into it but i view the words s/o and best friend the same way. You want to date them, but perhaps not in a romantic way, or at least a fully romantic way.

I could go into many other differenece but these are the main ones I can think of. And remember, your experiences don't have to fit those desriptions exactly becuase it can be different for everyone. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide what kind of attraction it might be. In many ways, the two kinds of attractions overlap in meaning so it can be difficult to tell which one it is, so just use your best judgment to figure out which it is, and if you can't that's okay too. You don't need to figure out exactly the type of attraction it is if you don't believe it's completely necessary. Hopefully that helped and as always feel free to ask any other questions you may have

[wolfandrain]

Eons late to this as usual but thank you so much for the tag!! Honestly it was really hard to choose so I just tried to vary the fandoms as much as possible.

Five Ships for Five Fandoms (in no particular order)

Lan Wanji/Wei Wuxian (The Untamed/MDZS) - It would be remiss of me not to put these two in here, as The Untamed was the show that got me into cdramas, cnovels, and eventually led to me getting into thai dramas. Shoutout to you early 2020s lockdown hyperfixation! Plus the stoic but relentlessly devoted one/chaotic genius with blisteringly low self-worth pairing is a gold mine for hurt/comfort, and that shit's my jam. Also points for being canonically queer.

Hak/Yona (Yona of the Dawn) - Hard to go wrong with a classic bodyguard and his princess. Watching their relationship go from hopelessly one-sided to fully reciprocated as Yona learns and grows and becomes a badass in her own right is extremely satisfying and sweet, and really I should start reading the manga again.

Rhysand/Feyre (ACOTAR etc.) - Yes I am a basic bitch, yes I've read some of Maas' books, cringe isn't real, embrace the cringe. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you've managed to avoid the romance/fantasy aisle of your local bookstore and honestly, power to you :)

Kim Ga On/Kang Yo Han (The Devil Judge) - The first non-canon ship on this list, these two probably wouldn't have been on here if not for this fic, which I've been following for multiple years and is shaping up to be one of my all time favourites. Listen, you give me a closed off calculating man with trauma and a clever but kind man with a little darkness of his own (and also trauma) and make them feel all the feelings, I am there for it. (Gang can we tell I like hurt/comfort? XD)

Kodama Sakuko & Takahashi Satoru (Koisenu Futari) - This one is cheating because it's explicitly NOT a ship in the romantic sense, but I will take any chance possible to yell about both this show and these two. Koisenu Futari is a lovely little Japanese show about two canon (canon!) aroace people who, through various circumstances, find themselves living together. Much of the premise from this point forward involves the two of them literally test-running a "new" kind of relationship, where they figure out how to be family to each other without romance. It's quite literally the best ace rep I've ever seen, their relationship screams queerplatonic, and the show itself made me cry more than once. Both Sakuko and Takahashi are so different from each other, but I love them both and the way they interact so dearly.

Tagging (no pressure of course): @the-lonely-catt @cosmiic-cove @thevampireauthoress @piezadelego and anyone else who feels inclined :)

Five Ships for Five Fandoms

Thank you @croik for the tag! These are not in any particular order.

John Doe/Yellow (Malevolent) - I love John/Arthur and Arthur/Hastur, but I chose this because right now the dynamic of “two fragments of one being with very different first impressions of Earth reunite and grow to love each other” is haunting me in the best way.

Pearl/Amethyst (Steven Universe) - I probably wouldn’t have started shipping them if it weren’t for this fic (link). Pearl, in canon and this AU, had a long history of repressing herself due to the rules around her. Amethyst is chaotic and outgoing by nature. It’s a fantastic “opposites attract” dynamic.

SAYER/Jacob Hale (SAYER) - “Finally, a silent human who obeys me unquestioningly” to “I will face the horrors of corporeality to keep him safe” pipeline. Also it’s fucked up (affectionate) for Jacob Hale to fall for the first person he remembers ever meeting, who has immense power over him and has pushed him near death many times. The power of SAYER Voice Hot compels him.

The Doctor/Rose Tyler (Doctor Who) - I know it’s basic. This was my jam in high school and I still think of it fondly. The Ninth Doctor, the Tenth Doctor, and the Metacrisis Doctor (Tentoo) all have intriguing dynamics with her that have led to some of my favorite fics.

Rosemary Harper/Sissix (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet) - This is a canon F/F human/nonhuman relationship in a book I really enjoy! I highly recommend the Wayfarers series to anyone who enjoys worldbuilding, character-focused stories, and human-alien relations (romantic and otherwise). For this ship in particular, I love Rosemary’s journey in learning more about Sissix’s culture and how Aandrisks approach sex, leading to her developing more confidence in pursuing this relationship. It’s really fun to watch their coworkers to friends to lovers relationship grow. (I’m sorry if this counts as a spoiler, but there’s a whole plot and several characters I haven’t even mentioned. Not to mention three more books in the same universe. Go read the Wayfarers series!)

Tagging (no pressure): @caedmonfaith @wolfandrain @astral-circuitry @darkdragon768 @voodoopunx and anyone else who wants to!

[sage-nebula]

Have you fallen down the Keith/Lotor hole as well? I'm shipping it myself and I'm so excited to see other people interested in it. The both of them are so complex! (Also I hope you had a good day.)

Listen, Iwane Masaaki-san (one of the animators on the PokéAni) created and posted this gorgeous animation of Alan today, so regardless of anything else that happened, my day was #blessed from the moment I laid eyes on that. Hardly anything could bring my day down after something so glorious and beautiful.

But that aside—YEAH, MAN!

I’ve been interested in the two of them interacting since S3, admittedly—and really, since even before S3. Ever since I saw the teaser trailers for Lotor (and in particular the one where he gave his rousing speech in the arena) I was interested in the two of them meeting, because I had a feeling that they would have a dynamic similar to one of my all-time favorite foetps, and let me tell you something: I love a good foetp.

… Though, I guess I should take a moment to explain that, shouldn’t I? Okay, brief pause: You’ve probably noticed, but I used four different ship tags on my blog depeding on how I ship the characters in question. The intensity of the ship doesn’t matter; it’s all about the type of relationship I see them having. Those tags are:

otp: romantic

qpp: queerplatonic

brotp: platonic

foetp: enemy

These are all distinct things. Sometimes they can overlap, and in those cases I’ll include both (e.g. “otp or brotp: [phrase]”), but each type of relationship here is different. So when I say “foetp”, a term I came up with years, and years, and years ago because I wanted a tag for enemy ships and felt like I was being clever with the rhyme, I’m talking about hateships. These characters hate each other, and not only do they hate each other, but they have a specific, targeted hatred for each other. They are archenemies. And their relationship might be a little more complicated than that, maybe there was some twisted, complicated form of “friendship” somewhere along the line in there, but at the end of the day, the reason why I am invested in this relationship is because I want to throw these two against each other again, and again, and again. I’m invested in the angst and the enmity. There may be obsession, but it is not healthy, nor is it positive. We go darker yet darker, and potentially more and more vicious.

So to that end, throughout season three I was mostly interested in seeing how Keith and Lotor’s relationship could devleop along foetp lines. Even back in S3 they already had a lot of interesting parallels between them, and in my mind there was so much potential for them to be like another beloved foetp of mine (as mentioned) due to some personality similarities, as well as strong likelihood of Lotor wanting Keith to join the ranks of his generals. (The other foetp I mentioned involves the villain of the pair dearly wanting to make the hero of the pair his right-hand.) Unfortunately, the two didn’t directly interact at all in S3, so I was left without any real basis to call them a foetp just yet. I could enjoy speculative fanart, but that was it.

However …

We’ve still yet to see them directly interact in S4, since although I’d love to say otherwise, I don’t think Lotor knew who he was saving when he saved Keith’s life. I mean, it’s possible he did, but I don’t see how he could have known. (Then again, how did he know that Team Voltron was changing their plan in 3x06? I mean, he could have been spying through Shireplica then, but there is no proof of that yet, so …) But although we’ve yet to see them interact, not only have we stacked on more parallels, but we’re in a position right now where I think that there is a real likelihood that they’re going to become allies. Maybe it’s a false allyship and Lotor will betray them in the future (likely), maybe it’ll be tense, maybe it’ll be unwilling, maybe they won’t even interact directly with each other—who knows. But right now there is potential, there is real potential for the two of them to team up, and god, that’s exciting.

Because there really are a lot of parallels between them at the moment. There were already some given their backgrounds alone, but this season in particular really made it a point to drive Lotor and Keith into the same exact position. To list:

They’re both part-Galra (Lotor is specifically half, and we don’t know how much Galra Keith has in him)

They were both forsaken by their parents (willingly or otherwise)

They were both ostracized by most everyone for most of their lives (Lotor was in exile; Keith only had Shiro)

They are both extremely skilled swordsman

They are both ambidextrous (I think—I’ll need to double-check for Lotor)

They are both extremely skilled pilots

They are both very decisive, and also determined as all hell; neither likes to give up once they’ve decided on something, no matter the risks

They are both natural leaders who usually don’t have trouble getting others to follow them, particularly in the midst of battle (no one better “but Team Voltron” me, that’s a whole separate issue that a.) didn’t exist in seasons one or two, and b.) isn’t Keith’s fault, as shown with Matt and the other rebels in 4x06)

Points seven and eight point to the fact that the Black Lion would likely favor both of them, which could very well be why Lotor was exiled in the first place (because we all know how Zarkon feels about sharing his Lion)

Both were given leadership at the behest of others (Haggar summoned Lotor; Shiro named Keith as his successor and the Black Lion was like “fuckin’ finally”), yet were doubted and criticized almost relentlessly the moment they took up the mantle

Both see through their own projects and goals, even if those goals seemingly run off the course of the main team’s goals (Lotor with his quintessence / other reality experiments, Keith with his very important Marmora missions), and this ends up turning their respective teams (Galra Empire and Team Voltron) against them

Both have those they hoped / believed would never turn against them do just that (Keith says, “Shiro is the only one who never gave up on me …” in S3, only for Shireplica to have his back to him and be glaring at him in 4x01, and not even try to argue against him leaving when he said he had to; Lotor was shot at point blank range by Acxa, and both Zethrid and Ezor tried to help her turn him over to the Empire)

Both were eventually ousted from the leadership positions they were given because the person they took up the mantle from (seemingly) returned (Shireplica came back and took the Black Lion back from Keith, and Zarkon returned to take the Empire back from Lotor, and while I’d have to double-check, iirc the language used when Zarkon declares he’s taking charge again mirrors what was used when Shireplica took control from Keith once and for all, so it was a deliberate parallel)

Neither wants to die, but both are extraordinarily reckless with their own lives (Lotor flying into the sun, Keith flying to crash his ship into the barrier)

And so on and so forth, I could go on and on. Both Keith and Lotor have been isolated from their closest companions as a result of their actions not being understood, accepted, or both. While Keith does have the Blade of Marmora (bless the Blade of Marmora), I still feel that he’s in a position right now where he could end up working with Lotor. Lotor has information about the Galra Empire that is valuable. Given Team Voltron’s reputation, it’s highly unlikely that they will want to listen to him (the real Shiro would, but Shireplica? Hmmm, #doubt). Keith, however, has not only been trying to track Lotor down for ages, but he has shown in the past that he is willing to listen to Galra who are willing to help them. All of his work with the Blade of Marmora aside, remember that he is the reason why Acxa is out of the Weblum right now. He consistently readjusted his judgment of her based on her actions, because that is how he is: He judges people based on what they do, not who they are. Lotor saved his life, and on top of that, he’s Public Enemy #1 of the Galra Empire right now. That would give Keith pause, and give him cause to listen, particularly since (again) Lotor has valuable information (and a comet ship) and Keith knows it. The fact that he is not a Paladin of Voltron at the moment means that he wouldn’t have to “get permission” from Shireplica or anyone else to give Lotor a shot and a listening ear, and while he would probably need to talk things over with Kolivan, we know Keith well enough to know that he will leave the Blades if he feels that doing so is the right thing to do, and it’s possible that Kolivan might suggest that Lotor take the Trials of Marmora to prove his loyalty (which Keith, I feel, would agree with). The Blade of Marmora doesn’t take chances, but it isn’t as if the Trials are easy. Keith nearly died. If nothing else, kicking the shit out of Zarkon’s son for a while might give some of them a catharsis.

But all of that aside, Keith is in a position right now where he would have not only the willingness to listen to Lotor if Lotor has informatoin that can help them fight Zarkon, but the opportunity given that he’s not a Paladin of Voltron. (But make no mistake, he has the same sense of honor that he had when he told Hunk, “We’re Paladins of Voltron. We can’t leave people to die, even if they’re Galra.” Even though he’s not a Paladin anymore, that sense of honor is still deeply ingrained in him. It’s a moral code he lives by.) Given all of that, and the fact that I think it’s extremely doubtful Team Voltron will want to even listen to Lotor, much less team up with him, I think there’s a high probability for a Lotor and Keith team up.

And I’m so, so excited for it, because as I outlined above they already have so much in common, and I feel that their personalities could potentially jive as well. Lotor is more cunning than Keith, absolutely; he has more of a silver tongue, he’s more manipulative. He’s not really trustworthy, but then, Keith is not trusting. Even if Keith is willing to listen to Lotor, that doesn’t mean he will drop his guards around him, that doesn’t mean he necessarily trusts him. He was a Paladin of Voltron for three seasons before he left, and his relationships with everyone except for the real Shiro are still terrible (and make no mistake, that is not entirely his fault considering that certain members of Team Voltron never even tried to bond with him, either, but that’s an argument for another time). So I’m not saying they’d be best buddies right away, but I think they’d work very well together if they had the same goal. They’re both smart, skilled, quick on their feet, and determined as all hell. That combination of traits makes for a force to be reckoned with in one person, much less two. And if … well, actually, I want to write a canon divergence from the end of 4x06 that goes down this path, so I can’t say too much more on that particular train of thought. All I can say is that I see a lot of potential in a partnership, and, well … Lotor’s ship has space for a copilot. He’s all out of generals, and Keith has no confidence in his leadership ability right now (but he wants to help defend and save the universe in any way that he can). Might Lotor find a new general in Keith? Hmm … it’s possible. It’s possible. And I hope we get something good out of it in season five.

[fire-fira]

Hi. Um, would you be able to explain the differences (and maybe similarities) between platonic, queerplatonic, and romantic relationships? Because I can't seem to find a consistent answer... Please and thank you.

Okay, so know ahead of time that what I’m going to tell you is just based on my own experiences and what I know. I’ll also add that since I’m aro I’ve never experienced romantic attraction (though I love my fiance dearly and will happily live the rest of my life with her).

So-

Platonic: These are the relationships where you have no real romantic or sexual interest in the other person (or people). Friends (whether of the acquaintance variety or the good friends you have for years), people who you would happily adopt as siblings or some other form of family, and family (if you get along with them– like siblings and cousins).

Romantic: These are the relationships characterized by romantic attraction. Most of what I’m aware of it’s fair to characterize these relationships with the butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling, moments of not really being able to think of anything else when you’re thinking about the other person (or people), etc. (If someone who isn’t aro could fill in an explanation of this a little more coherently, it’d be appreciated.) These relationships are usually pretty emotionally intense with a strong sense of commitment (so far as I’m aware).

Queerplatonic: Like platonic relationships these relationships are characterized by a lack of sexual or romantic attraction– however, like romantic relationships they are emotionally intense and have a strong sense of commitment. These are relationships where you will happily live with and plan your life around being with the person (or people), completely in absence of sexual or romantic attraction. In my own experience this is the sort of relationship that grows over time that might creep up on you without you realizing it until it’s already been established for a while. A lot of people try to brush off queerplatonic relationships as just ‘best friends’, but ‘best friends’ don’t plan their lives around each other, don’t plan on living with each other, don’t make plans to marry each other (or to have a committed relationship of some type), and generally aren’t bothered when the other people they’re close to make comments along the lines of “Why do you have to tell _____ about what you’re doing or when to expect you back? They’re just a friend.” And when the commitment of a queerplatonic relationship is recognized for what it is, most people end up assuming the relationship is a romantic one.

I’ll also say that it’s possible for there to be a mixed relationship where it’s romantic for one person and queerplatonic for another (or any sort of mix if you’re in a ply relationship and have multiple partners). For instance with my relationship with my fiance on my end it’s queerplatonic but on her end it’s romantic, and our commitment to each other isn’t really affected by that difference. We’re still going to get married at some point and we’ll be together on into old age and however long we have (and as far as I’m concerned she’s the only person I’m ever going to marry).

I hope that makes it a little more clear. And if you’ve got any further questions, my inbox is always open.